A senior minister has been threatened with de-selection by council chiefs
furious at his attempt to rein in excessive spending.

Bob Neill, the local government minister, is fighting off an attempt by Tory councillors in his Bromley and Chislehurst constituency to remove him as MP in a row over the Government's attack on council profligacy.

The threat is the starkest evidence yet of the rancour between local and central government as the Coalition drives through cuts and attempts to get a grip on spending.

Since the coalition came to power, Mr Neill and Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, have criticised local authorities over the frequency of council bin collections, the publication of council newspapers and the salaries of executives and effectively frozen council tax.

They have imposed cuts to local authority budgets of 27% and insisted that councils find savings without cutting frontline services - and demanded that executives paid more than the prime minister take salary cuts.

While they have been congratulated by many for their bold approach, some Tory councillors claim they are being treated with contempt.

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One councillor claims that Mr Pickles recently attended a meeting of Tory councillors and wished them all "goodbye", joking that they were all going to lose their seats in May's local elections.

Tory councillors say they are furious because Conservative authorities are being treated the same as Labour councils.

They argue that Tory councils are frugal and Labour ones wasteful - but that ministers do not distinguish between them.

Activists in Bromley have written to Mr Neill to warn him that de-selection moves could begin against him if he continues to criticise them.

"As a thrifty Conservative borough we are getting a bit fed up of being treated the same as spendthrift Labour councils," said one activist.

"We know how to run a tight ship. And yet we have Mr Neill repeatedly lecturing us about salaries and ordering us to cut back even further than we are doing.

"It's quite clear that ministers are trying to pass the buck to local councils. We are doing everything we can to find cuts but we are constantly being slagged off by the centre.

"Pickles and Neill are trying to dump all the ills at our door and tell people 'if you have a problem, blame your local council'."

Mr Neill's Bromley is Tory run, with the party holding 53 out of the 60 council seats, and charges council tax significantly below the national average, with the band D bill £991.31, compared to the £1,438.37 average.

But its chief executive is paid £185,000 and has refused to take the 5 per cent salary cut demanded by ministers.

Another grassroots Tory in Bromley said: "Bob Neill is going to have to start deciding whether he's a constituency MP first or a minister.

"We understand he's got a job to do but he could be a little bit more careful about who he upsets."

The activist said Mr Neill had been "informally warned" of the possibility of de-selection.

Last weekend, Mr Neill wrote to all local councils warning them to end the "unlawful" practice of fining residents for petty infringement of bin rules and recycling errors.

One senior Tory councillor said: "Good value for money councils under Tory flags are becoming increasingly despairing at being lumped together with wasteful Labour councils.

"We've just had to get rid our lollypop people. Did we want to? Absolutely not. But we had to in order to keep social workers for children.

"The cuts go that far down to the gone. We don't mind doing it, we get on with it, but we do mind when we then get told by ministers that we are all wasteful and profligate. They need to stop tarring all councils with the same brush."

Another grassroots activist said: "Pickles and co. are just dumping on us. Tory councils are happy to take so much on the chin but the feeling is morphing rapidly into one of rebellion.

"Is King Eric the saviour he portrays himself to be or a bullyboy who is just blustering around passing blame? This is all an attempt to deflect the flak for the cuts from the coalition."